Ch#167
Alexander was holding Dad's pale, rigid hand.
For some reason, thick tears were falling from Alexander's eyes.
"Let go......!"
"Please don't do this. At least this time, let's talk. Father is waiting......"
Father?
Tie wasn't the only one with her mouth agape at the conversation whose meaning she couldn't grasp.
Aleric, Victor, Libia, and even Basto poked Basto with wide eyes.
"What's going on? What the hell is this situation?"
However, Basto was just as clueless.
At that moment.
The grand gates of Luminen Mansion burst open, and Leonardo appeared.
He approached Tese tan and Alexander with a stiff expression and said,
"Theseus."
For a brief moment, everyone was bewildered by the unfamiliar yet familiar name.
"Sorry in advance."
Leonardo removed his swordsmanship gloves.
Then, he struck the back of Tese tan's neck with the blade of his hand condensed with Holy Power.
Tese tan, who hadn't fully recovered from the mouth injury from his duel with Tie, staggered greatly.
"Wha?!"
Shocked, Tie tried to rush over immediately.
But Edmund, who approached, pulled the child into a hug.
Tie flailed and stared at Edmund.
"U-Uncle! Uncle Leonardo hit Tie, n-no, the Vice Leader!!"
Tese tan was already unconscious from what Leonardo had done.
Edmund nodded as if sorry.
"Yeah. He's your Vice Leader, but he acted violently."
Tie nodded with teary eyes.
Edmund continued.
"But I thought there'd be no other way to bring him home if we didn't do this."
Tie's lips pursed slightly.
Edmund smiled sadly somewhere.
"Can Tie just let it slide for today? He's the little brother who unilaterally cut ties and vanished...... We can't let him run away from right in front of us again."
'Little brother......?'
Tie blankly watched Leonardo's back as he hoisted Dad and entered the mansion.
Little brother, little brother......?
Edmund's words from moments ago kept echoing in her ears.
Tie dazedly looked at Edmund's face.
* * *
"Ha......"
In the spacious reception room, Aleric ruffled his own hair.
Victor clicked his tongue at Aleric.
Aleric lifted his head and glared at Victor.
"You knew."
Victor slowly crossed his legs and asked back.
"Knew what?"
"That the Leader, uh, that is, Luminen......!"
Even as he spoke, the words stuck in his throat.
After struggling with the sentence for a while and wasting several seconds, Aleric finally shouted.
"Did you know the Leader is Luminen's fourth Young Lord?!"
Victor shrugged.
"No? I didn't. But now that I know, it's not that shocking."
Aleric let out a "Huh."
Victor continued.
"We all suspected at least once that the Leader might be a noble, right?"
Aleric cast his gaze down dejectedly.
As Victor said, Tese tan's swordsmanship was noble-like from the start.
Using only restrained movements without unnecessary motions.
His honed strikes being so precise and meticulous.
His thrusting motions resembling those of Holy Knights.
It meant his foundation was different from commoner swordsmen who wandered here and there learning swordsmanship haphazardly.
"I already suspected it. The Leader and Luminen's fourth Young Lord overlap quite a bit in appearance. From the black hair and green eyes mixed with brown."
"If you thought that, you should've...... told me."
Aleric shut his mouth.
Beside him, Libia also sat with her mouth firmly closed, looking deep in thought.
Veil, who had been watching them with amused eyes, spoke up.
"So. Tese tan is this house's fourth son, right?"
His face was full of an expression that found it entertaining.
"I should've known when I was an informant. People were a bit curious about what the vanished fourth Young Lord was up to."
Veil bent down toward Tie, who had been silent beside him since earlier.
"Anyway, kid, as expected! Respect!"
Tie hesitantly lifted her head.
Veil chuckled and continued.
"You had a feeling, huh? That's why you dueled and swallowed Trebaga whole. Looks like Tese tan was unilaterally avoiding the Clan Leader."
"......"
"Can't believe it. That guy's father is the Clan Leader and his brothers are Luminen's three Young Lords. No wonder he was so cocky. He had backing...... Huh? Kid!"
At that moment, Tie jumped up from her chair.
She urgently left the reception room, shouting,
"Tie bathroom!"
Veil, who had started to rise at the word "bathroom," sat back down.
Tie, who closed the reception room door and came out, felt her pounding heart as she looked around the vast mansion.
Luminen Mansion was empty without servants today as well.
The Clan Leader always vacated the house like this on days Tie visited to minimize onlookers.
'Dad......'
Tie began climbing the stairs with drooping eyebrows.
If Dad was really the Clan Leader's son.
If he was really the uncles' little brother, she had an idea where he might be now.
'The room I accidentally entered while searching the organization.'
The child's steps grew more urgent.
Panting, Tie finally stood before Luminen's fourth Young Lord's room.
She quietly pressed her ear to the door.
Sure enough, voices came from inside.
"......I have no intention of interfering in your life. Nor do I plan to pry into what you're doing day by day. But."
"......"
"I judged that we should have some contact. That's not such a difficult thing, is it?"
"Ha......"
No doubt about it.
The Clan Leader speaking in a subdued voice.
And Dad sighing.
"......It's my fault."
Valentis's choked voice continued.
"After you left like that, I thought long and hard. Why you made that choice. Why you always point the sword tip at yourself."
Tie shut her mouth.
Though she knew nothing of the circumstances, Valentis's voice was very sad.
So sad it made her want to cry too.
"Tese tan. Let me make it clear here today. That wasn't your fault. It was my mistake stemming from my foolishness."
"......"
"As a foolish father, I didn't know your heart was festering. I didn't know you were in so much pain. I...... I was the fool."
"Enough."
Dad interrupted Valentis in a choked voice.
Tie swallowed and leaned a bit more toward the door.
Silence followed, then Valentis's voice came again.
"......I know today's events are bewildering. Actually, I have a personal connection with Agavert. I'll explain more in detail later, but the Church targeted the Necromancer King."
"The Church? Why the Necromancer King?"
"Haven't you seen his power too? It's an unprecedented ability. It's natural the Church would be interested."
"Ha, those guys are the same as ever......"
"Worried about him?"
Tie listening froze stiff.
From beyond the door, Valentis let out a faint laugh.
"He's hard to hate. I thought you'd like him too."
Tie unwittingly took a step back from her spot.
"I......"
Dad began to reply from inside.
Terrified, Tie bolted back down the hallway she had come from.
'I......'
He's annoying and I hate him.
It won't get better in the future either.
She was scared of hearing Dad say something like that.
Running frantically to the end of the hallway, Tie stopped before a large decorative cabinet.
Between the cabinet and the hallway wall.
There was a small space just big enough to fit into.
Tie squeezed in with grunts, hugged her knees, and curled up.
Dust flew up, but her mind was filled with one thought.
'The Clan Leader...... is Dad's dad.'
And not just that.
Dad had three older brothers.
Suddenly, an old memory surfaced.
'You know, Tie has no family except Dad. Weird, right?'
'Gasp, how can she have no family? No mom either?'
'Dunno. But in the family drawing, she only drew Dad and herself?'
The small hand clutching her clothes trembled faintly.
